1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for weaning children, and more particularly to the use of a drinking straw in combination with a nipple in the course of the weaning.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Bottle feeding of infants has been practiced extensively in the past to a point where the child acquires strong habits in the manner that it ingests liquids. As result of these habits the mother is continually encumbered with the task of maintaining sanitary bottles and nipples, a task at the very least cumbersome, particularly during travel. Furthermore, as result of these relatively strong oral habits, the course of weaning the child into a more ordinary method of taking liquids is rendered rather difficult and children of relatively mature age are frequently found to prefer the bottle feeding technique. In the past, most efforts in improving the bottle feeding techniques were efforts directed at removing or limiting the intake of air during feeding and very little attention has been directed to the weaning process itself. Thus, while there are devices developed in the past wherein a straw-like structure is attached to the nipple, most often such devices do not include the straw in the actual orifice of the nipple, in each instance elaborate structure being provided for adapting the straw-like structure to the nipple opening. For this reason these prior art devices did not address or contemplate the training of new habits, in each instance the flow rate produced thereby being substantially lower than the flow rate achievable through a straw in its raw form. Furthermore, these same elaborate interconnections between the straw-like fixture and the nipple itself avoided the necessary end production of the straw through the nipple through which the oral muscles of the child would become familiar with the straw end.